Permafrost
by Sarcastic Tofu
Summary: The rewrite was posted as 'Frozen.'
1. Graduation

**{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings**** first (probably)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}**

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**~Permafrost~**

~ _Chapter one: Graduation _~

"There's no way she's a Genin!"

"Is this some kind of joke Ikkizo-sensei!?"

"Well she's not gonna be on my team!"

"My cell either!"

Ikkizo Fuwa groaned. He hated graduation day. Just the day before all of his twenty-one students had taken the Genin Graduation exam, only eight had passed. That is, only eight _should_ have passed, but no they **had** to let _that little kid_ take the exam.

Ikkizo looked out the corner of his eye to see _that little kid_ still standing next to him smiling cheerfully. The pale azure haired child's name was Yumiko Kawaguchi and she had passed the graduation exam with flying colors. But her exam scores were not what the other students were getting so worked up over. They were angry because while _they_ had studied for six years at the Hidden Mist Ninja Academy a five year old from the first year class had passed the complex exam _on her very first try_.

"Quiet all of you, or else you won't get your team assignments!" yelled Ikkizo over the uproar of the class.

"But Ikkizo-_sensei_…"

"No buts, keep your traps shut so we can just get out here!"

Ikkizo took a deep breath before he began reading off the list of team assignments.

"Cell one: Kaede Isobe, Haruko Isobe, and Masu Kuga. Your squad leader is Ami Hoshino."

The Isobe twins high-fived each other happily while Masu smacked his head against his wooden desk hard. He was the only guy on a squad of _girls_. His day couldn't get much worse.

"Cell two: Jiro Kido, Zeshin Yamakazi, and Aya Nakao. Your squad leader is Seiki Nogi."

The three shrugged. The easy-going trio had been friends for years and a nightmare for their frustrated teachers.

"Cell three: Mayu Taka, Sen Kano, and Haku Aida. Your squad leader is Hoshi Ina."

Haku angrily groaned to himself; he was stuck on a squad with his two biggest fan girls. At this moment Mayu and Sen began to argue over Haku for the millionth time that day.

"BACKOFF IDIOT HAKU IS MINE!"

"-IN YOUR DREAMS MAYU!"

"Would you two just shut up!" interrupted Kaii who was seated behind the two bothersome fan girls.

"Cell four: Kaii, Kimiko Godo and…"

'_Don't say Yumiko, don't say Yumiko!' _thought Kaii in desperation.

"…and Yumiko Kawaguchi. Your squad leader is Roku Otsu."

"No!" shouted Kaii. "Why am I on a team with a five year old!?!"

"Because they wanted to stick the student with the lowest scores on the same team as the student with the highest scores like they always do dobe", replied Kimiko coolly.

Suddenly the other Genin began to argue about their squad assignments as well until the room was once again filled with deafening shouting.

"**SILENCE!**" screamed Ikkizo at the top of his lungs, but it was no use, the class had gone to the dogs. So as so many times before, Ikkizo reached into his front pocket and whipped out an air horn.

"WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Sadly, the screeching of the air horn had no effect on the eight new Genin. Ikkizo glared at the Genin then yelled, "**YOU KNOW WHAT?! SCREW YOU!**" and angrily stomped out into the hallway.

Yumiko cocked her head to one side as she stared at her new squad and the other six Genin. _They must be crazy, _she thought.

Less than a minute later, four Jounin were shoved into the thunderous classroom as Ikkizo's voice was heard from the hallway.

"**THERE! THEY'RE YOUR PROBLEM NOW!**"

The four Jounin just stood watching the chaos enfolding before them.

"_Do you think any of them will pass the Chunin exams?_" whispered Ami Hoshino.

"_Nope_", replied Roku, "_Especially not the little kid_."

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**{The graduating class reminds me of Naruto's class only worse… Atleast Iruka-sensei didn't have an air horn! ^^}**


	2. Hearing Bells

**{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings**** first (well, probably I think...)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.) And as if you already knew I do not own Naruto just the characters on my page!}**

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**Permafrost**

~ _Chapter two: hearing bells _~

After an hour and forty-five minutes, the graduating class was finally quiet. It had taken eight other teachers, the head master, and an angry custodian with a large barrel of insecticide, but the nine new rookies where now completely silent.

"Now that we **finally** have your attention…crap, what were we going to say anyway?"

"We were going to have the new squads assemble and get to know one another Seiki", grumbled Hoshi irritably.

"Oh yeah…"

"You're hopeless."

"Hey-"

Ami interrupted the disputing Jounin, "Team one calls the rooftop!"

"No way, Cell three already called the rooftop!"

"It would appear squad two left ten minutes ago; they're probably already up there."

In no time at all, squad four was the only the team left in the deserted classroom. No one spoke as if afraid to break the quiet tension.

Amidst the awkward silence, Roku analytically scrutinized his three new students.

In the left front corner of the room, Kimiko Godo leaned against a plaster white wall seeming utterly apathetic. Her short jet-black hair was swept slightly to the right, a blue streak dangling in her field of vision. The eleven year old wore a plain grey short sleeved shirt over ninja mesh and black shorts. Her unscarred hidden mist [Kirigakure] headband was tied loosely around her neck. She had an overall shadowy aura about her.

Kaii was seated the last row of the row of desks repeatedly tapping a kunai against the scratched and battered wooden desk's surface thus chipping it to pieces. His ginger colored hair seemed to spring up in the back somewhat as if defying gravity. A Kirigakure headband was tied around his forehead in typical ninja fashion. On his bright red t-shirt was a simple white circle surrounding the Kirigakure insignia. Over the twelve year olds right shoulder a moderately large sword was tied in place, on the handle read the kanji for 'silence'. Khaki shorts and kunai holster completed his attire. Roku could help feel the fuming impression Kaii gave off.

Finally, sat Yumiko rocking back and forth gently with her legs crossed at the front of the room. The five year old had long pale azure hair held in a loose braid. Upon her forehead was a new Kirigakure headband partially covered by her blue hair. She had on a half-sleeved white kimono with her clan's insignia (a navy blue snowflake within a raindrop) on it over standard ninja shorts. The bluenette hummed a simple melody contentedly.

After a long sigh, Roku spoke in an uninterested tone.

"Since we're going to be on the same squad why don't each of you tell your teammates a little bit about yourself; what your name what you like, dislike, your hopes or dreams and your jutsu style."

"Could you tell us a bit about yourself first Roku-sensei?" chirped Yumiko happily.

The russet haired Jounin sighed a second time before answering.

"My name is Roku Otsu, but I am often known as 'the fog assassin of Kirigakure'. I like some things. I dislike many things including you three. I hope you will pass my training exercise, but doubt it. My jutsu style is the use of various weapons and poisons. Now it's your turn Yumiko."

"Umm…My name is Yumiko Kawaguchi. I love my nii-san Dai, to read, train, create new jutsu, and travel. I hate war. I hope to go to the chunin exams in two months in the hidden cloud village [Kumogakure]. Kenjii-kun says Kumogakure is really beautiful in the early summer. My jutsu techniques are mostly medical jutsu or water and lightning chakra based; Kimiko's turn!"

Kimiko shrugged as if to say 'why not?' as she answered monotonously.

"My name is Kimiko Godo of the Godo clan. I like, as you put it, to train and sketch pictures. I detest hypocrites. My aspiration is to join the Anbu black ops. The methods of my jutsu are usually genjutsu, my ninja art, and shuriken or kunai based techniques; your turn dobe."

"STOP CALLING ME DOBE KIKMIKO!" yelled Kaii from the back of the room. Yumiko sent her hyperactive teammate a bothered look.

"Kaii-kun, don't shout in school."

"TEACHERS' PET!"

"Kaii-kun!"

"Don't be a jerk to Yumiko dobe."

"Shut up all three of you!" boomed Roku. Kaii sent death glares at Yumiko and Kimiko then spoke.

"Kaii is my name. I like to train, but I detest school. My jutsu are water techniques and I use my sword Chinmoku. My dream is to be the next Mizukage so I can protect everyone…"

The second Kaii was done speaking, Yumiko burst out quickly, "So what's the training exercise sensei!?!"

Roku groaned; this was going to be a long day.

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The squad now stood in a semi circle at the center of a grassy training ground.

"So all we have to do is get those bells before lunch or we get tied to a stump and starve?!?"

"Exactly, any questions before we start?"

But before anyone could interrupt, Roku said "Time starts now!"

Roku glanced about; Kimiko and Kaii were well hidden the dense under brush, with the exception of Yumiko. The five year old bluenette stood happily a few feet away from the dumbfounded Jounin.

"Aren't you going to hide?"

An evil smirk crossed Yumiko's face as she whispered a soft 'Katsu!' and exploded into a storm of icy shuriken.

Roku was slammed into a tree from the force of the gigantic detonation.

_It must have been some sort of bomb clone!_ thought the fog assassin as he struggled to free himself from the icy kunai now tacking him tightly to a tree. But as the shinobi resisted, the ice blades only grew until he was completely incased in thick permafrost.

The real Yumiko now stood at the center of the clearing grinning cheerfully as she held up the two silvery bells.

She called out across the clearing, "Rule number seven Sensei, 'expect the unexpected'!"

The young girl's squad mates stared at her for a few moments trying to comprehend what they had just seen. _What the…_

Moments later, Kimiko and Kaii were standing near their younger teammate. Kimiko gave the five year old a rare smile as the bluenette tossed a bell to her. Kaii glared at the small child, who was now trying to saw the remaining bell in half with a kunai.

_For her it's so easy…_

A second later the ginger haired twelve year old had his sword drawn and pointed at his youngest teammate with killing intent.

"What are you doing dobe, we already have the bells", said Kimiko coldly.

Kaii continued staring at Yumiko then spoke in an angry tone, "She should never have made Genin status in the first place…"

The dark haired girl drew a handful of shuriken. "Calm down dobe."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" shouted the swordsman as he lunged at Kimiko hostilely.

To Yumiko it was as if the following events played out in slow motion. She watched wide-eyed as her enraged teammate lunge at the raven haired ninja. Without thinking she gathered chakra to her hands effortlessly. Roku-sensei was still tangled in her jutsu, but if she didn't do something soon someone could die.

In a few seconds the pale azure haired child was standing behind Kaii.

The elder teammate turned catching a glance of her out of the corner of his eye.

In a swift motion Yumiko twisted the swordsman's right arm out of its socket and severed several veins near his left knee using her knife-like chakra.

"Subside Kaii-kun, squad members aren't supposed to hurt each other."

Kaii couldn't reply for he had unconsciously fallen to the hard ground.

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When the ginger haired twelve year old woke up he found himself fastened tightly to a log. _I lost!_

He angrily glimpsed his surroundings. A few meters away from him the two girl squad members were eating what appeared to be rice balls whilst chatting contentedly, Roku-sensei was no where to be seen. Kaii's stomach growled. He had forgotten, whoever didn't steal a bell by noon didn't get any lunch. His stomach produced another loud growl.

_Even my stomach is against me today._

"Yay! Kaii-kun is awake!"

"The dobe hath returned."

The ginger haired boy had made up his mind, he officially hated those two!

"Kaii-kun!"

"What?!" snapped the ravenous swordsman at his squad mate now seated closely to him.

"Do you want some onigiri?" inquired the young child helpfully.

"Hell yeah, I'm starving!"

Yumiko scrunched up her face for a moment. "Kaii-kun, you are being too loud sensei will hear us."

"Fine I'll be quiet. Now can I **please** have some lunch?" he asked in the nicest voice he could muster.

With a bright grin the five year old handed what remained of her rice ball to Kaii.

"Of coarse Kaii-kun!"

Roku grinned softly as he observed his three pupils from a nearby tree. They had passed the bell test after all; but how would they do on their first mission?

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**{So what'd you think? Two words: PLEASE REVIEW!}**


	3. Hazards of Learning

**{Note-I guess I didn't thoroughly explain the end of the chapter (I really shouldn't write when I'm half asleep). Roku-sensei said they passed the bell test because even though Kaii tried to attack his squad mates, they helped him anyway when he was tied to the stump; thus demonstrating teamwork. (evil cackle) However, Roku-sensei will later regret passing them...**

**Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings****first (well, probably not, but I though I'd just remind readers that this is the prolog)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}**

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**Permafrost**

~ _Chapter three: Hazards of learning _~

Squad four stared gaping at their sensei, not believing what they had just heard.

According to Roku-sensei today they would receive their very first mission. The all important task being: trim some guy's giant Coast Redwood trees. Kaii was the first to comment on the importance of the mission.

"What a damn rip off! Anyone with a tall latter can trim stupid trees!" yelled the annoyed twelve year old and frankly his teammates were inclined to agree.

Roku explained in an exasperated tone, "You can't do regular missions until you do the easy ones first. Right now we'll probably do mostly D-rank missions, if you prove capable of those I'll ask for a C-rank."

The three students were still unsatisfied.

"Tell you what, I'll teach you how to climb trees without your hands. Now will stop giving me that look?"

The trio nodded.

"Good, now come on, being late for your first mission will set a bad impression with the Mizukage."

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When the squad four reached their destination on the far side of the main island they were stunned by what they saw. Behind the small home of their customer was a whole forest full of massive trees easily topping one hundred meters, which **they** had to trim.

"This is so not worth 782 ryou an hour…" muttered Kaii.

Yumiko and Kimiko slowly nodded in agreement.

"First you complain all the way here, then you just stand there staring when we have a mission to accomplish?!?" shouted their sensei from the dense forest, "How did you guys even pass the exam in the first place!?!"

As Kaii began to protest, his raven haired teammate firmly clamped a hand over his mouth.

"_Do you want him to teach us a new technique or not dobe_," she hissed quietly.

The swordsman bobbed his head vigorously.

"_Then don't argue_."

By the time the three students finally caught up with their apathetic sensei he was already at the top of a tall red wood cutting down dead branches.

"So **how **do we climb trees without our hands Roku-sensei?" asked Kaii in the least sarcastic voice he could manage.

The Jounin briefly looked down from the tree top knowingly.

"Just transfer chakra to your feet; not too much or you'll waste energy, not too little or you'll plummet. Mark your progress on a tree with kunai on the trunk."

"Right," replied the three students.

Roku surveyed the scene as each student attempted to climb a tree using only chakra.

Kaii first gathered his chakra then took a running start at his tree. Sadly, he didn't gather enough chakra in his feet and promptly fell to the forest floor with a hard thud. The red haired sensei muffled his laughter as the twelve year old let out a stream of curses Hidan would be proud of.

Nearby Kimiko was already on her third attempt and doing quite well. Her kunai markings on the red-brown bark indicated she was roughly one fourth of the way up the one hundred meter tall tree.

Roku scanned the area for his youngest student, but to his surprise didn't see her. He quickly gazed around the area once more, but still couldn't locate the young bluenette.

"**HI ROKU-SENEI!"**shouted Yumiko as she shot up from behind the Jounin whilst using her chakra to climb up to the towering peak of the lofty redwood.

The startled Jounin let out a silent scream of surprise as he crashed to the land so far below.

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As Roku lay at the foot of the lofty conifer he could faintly hear voices as his hazy vision started to come back into focus.

"**Great**, you scared our sensei to death. Thanks a lot _Yumiko_", said Kaii, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No I didn't, he's just knocked out! He forgot rule number two, 'observe your surroundings and act when there's an opening'!"

"This isn't the academy squirt!"

"My name isn't 'squirt', its Yumiko!"

The twelve year old smirked, "SQUIRT! SQUIRT! SQUIRT! What're you going to do about it?"

The raven haired kunoichi exhaled heavily as the slightly peeved Yumiko tackled her eldest teammate hard into one of the many surrounding redwoods.

Roku, now on his feet, stood watching beside Kimiko.

"Do you think they'll ever get along?" mused the teacher.

"It is uncertain," the eleven year old paused, "but I highly doubt it."

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Kimiko blinked as Roku tried to separate her two teammates who'd been comically trying to strangle each other for about five minutes.

"Come on you're not done with the mission and we have to leave in an hour. You can kill each other on your own time!" grumbled the irritated teacher as he tried to drag the bluenette away from Kaii. No such luck, the ginger haired pre-teen merely latched onto the girl's ankle pulling off one of her standard navy sandals.

"Hey!" called Yumiko as she eluded her sensei's tight grasp, "Give it back!"

"Make me", replied the swordsman teasingly.

Roku tried in vain once more to pull the two apart as the younger child and her elder squad mate began a vicious tug-of-war over the sandal.

The calm kunoichi suppressed a snicker; those three were as bad as three year olds.

Kimiko glanced back up to the squabbling threesome. Now their sensei had joined the tug-of-war and shouting even louder at the two.

Correction, those three were **worse **than three year olds.

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Another three-fourths of an hour passed as the trio, the young prodigy, fuming swordsman and annoyed Jounin argued over the sandal, whether hitting one's teammate with your other sandal was bad karma, and whos fault this whole mess was in the first place.

At this point Kimiko finally pointed out that they had less than ten minutes to trim an entire forest worth of trees and at last ended the comical squabble.

A moment of silence echoed through the dense woodland until eventually Roku spoke.

"Since you three are the new Genin I trust you can finish this D-rank mission by yourselves. I'll fill out the paperwork and we'll meet at the claret bridge near the west sector of the village tomorrow. Chao!"

The trio of rookies stood speechless as their sensei left them.

"That son of a-"

"Language Kaii-kun", reminded the Yumiko.

"Fine, if you're so smart how about you figure out a way for us to trim off all the dead branches in this entire forest in less than ten minutes miss prodigy!"

Yumiko seemed to consider this for a moment. How to trim hundreds of giant conifers in less than ten minutes, it seemed impossible it would be easier to just lie…

"That's it!" exclaimed the five year old.

Kimiko frowned, "What's it?"

"We have to lie", explained Yumiko, "We can use a genjutsu to disguise the forest so no one will know we didn't complete the mission. It would wear off gradually so know one would notice the difference."

The bluenette's squad mates had to admit, this was an incredible idea.

"So who'll cast the genjutsu?"

Yumiko and Kaii's gazes were now fixed on their raven haired teammate.

"I'm bound for regretting this tomorrow…" muttered Kimiko quietly.

In actuality, it was a week before their client noticed something wasn't quite right with his forest; namely _after_ a 'live' branch fell from its towering position onto him, rendering him unconscious and quite pissed off.

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**{This chapter was fun to write; it reminded me of a whacked-out version of team seven's tree climbing exercise. ^^ Reviews make me write faster (wink wink nudge nudge).}**


	4. Plan H

**{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings**** first (wait a second, but it's a prequel so disregard that last bit)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page and minor characters in this story. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}**

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**Permafrost**

~ _Chapter four: Plan H _~

In the course of the past three weeks the Kirigakure village council had come to a conclusion; team four was the physical embodiment of anarchy. Every single D-rank mission they had been sent on had ended in disaster, completed, but a disaster nonetheless. For instance on the mission in which the three Genin were assigned to babysit some academy students while their teacher was at a meeting a week and a half ago. By the time their teacher returned from the hour long meeting the treacherous trio had traumatized the kindergarteners so badly that they were now attending group therapy sessions every Wednesday. And the babysitting mission was just the beginning, since graduation day the village council had received **49** complaints about Cell four from clients or civilians, **23** requests to never send the threesome on a mission for certain customers ever again, **62** threats of lawsuits, and **14** death threats if the team came within two hundred meters of certain client's homes. The Jounin on the council were at the end of their ropes, the possibility of sending the squad on even the simplest of missions was becoming a matter of national security. If this kept up the village would become bankrupt in less than two months. There was only one option left.

Plan H.

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Roku attempted to stay calm as his students approached the red bridge they always met at.

"The cat lady says she wants to press charges for what you did to Fluffy", said the Jounin in his usual calm tone.

Kaii glared at his sensei eyebrows narrowed, "That cat was hell with claws!"

"-But it still wasn't necessary to cut off all of her fur dobe", Kimiko added.

Yumiko grimaced as she tried not to think of the look on feudal lord's wife's face when they had handed her the very bald Persian only the day before. She wasn't surprised the woman was threatening to sue after Kaii had cut off all of the pure bred cat's long golden fur leaving only pasty pink skin and a few bits of golden stubble.

"So what's our mission today sensei?" asked the five year old quietly.

The russet haired Jounin frowned as he replied. "It would seem the village council has decided to execute Plan H."

The children stared at him blankly. "What's Plan H?"

"Handcuff you and place you under house arrest", replied a masked Anbu operative as he appeared behind the squad and clamped a set of handcuffs on each of the Genin's wrists thus fastening the three together.

Kaii exploded, "What the hell?! We've been successful on all of our missions, what could you place us under house arrest for?"

The Anbu agent spoke through his white porcelain mask in an emotionless tone, "Considering the 'successes' of your missions I'm surprised they haven't decided to put you in prison."

"Oh come on, that building collapsing wasn't **that** bad, everyone made it out alive and only moderately injured!" yelled the young swordsman.

"My point exactly; I'll return tomorrow to unfasten the handcuffs if you behave", replied the operative as he and their sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The ginger haired twelve year old's face turned bright red as he yelled after them, "HEY LET US OUT OF THESE!"

Kimiko sighed, "Let it go dobe, they'll just lengthen our sentence."

Meanwhile the pale azure haired prodigy began feudally trying to pull along her teammates in the direction of the Kirigakure public library.

The genjutsu specialist stared at her before asking blankly, "Where are you trying to take us I hesitate to ask?"

"-To meet my nii-san, Dai, he'll know what to do!" answered the five year old dramatically.

So Kimiko and Kaii quietly relented and allowed themselves to be yanked along towards the library; today couldn't possibly get any worse…

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**{(evil cackle) Suspense! coughPleaseReviewcough...}**


	5. How to Read

**{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings**** first (wait a second, but it's a prequel so disregard that last bit)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page and minor characters in this story. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}**

**-------------------------------------**

**Permafrost**

~ _Chapter five: How to Read _~

Kaii stared wide eyed at the inner ceiling of the Kirigakure public library. Across its domed ceiling was a vast intricate mural of the ocean whose waves and sky seemed to move as he gazed at it.

"Haven't you been here before dobe?" inquired Kimiko slightly surprised.

But there was no time to reply for the two had to quickly duck out of the way of an on-coming librarian as their youngest teammate dragged them to the back of the library to the giant librarians' desk. The swordsman stifled a snicker as Yumiko stood on her tip-toes in an effort to see over the surface of the head librarian's desk. The elderly woman looked down at the pale azure haired child quizzically.

"May I help you?" she asked in a shrill piercing voice.

Yumiko smiled, "Have you seen Daitaro Kawaguchi?"

The woman nodded, "He's putting away books in the jutsu section, but please don't run dear."

"Thanks!" whispered the five year old, who then began pulling her squad members along to the jutsu section.

"So is your brother a librarian or what?" murmured the ginger haired twelve year old to his youngest teammate.

Without stopping she answered, "There are many rare books which are never supposed to leave the library and it's nii-san's job to guard them."

Kaii considered that to be the most boring ninja assignment ever, but said nothing. He didn't want Kimiko to put him in another her creepy genjutsu.

"There you are nii-san!" yelled the five year old girl as she ran up to a Jounin putting books from a small library cart away.

He shushed her then smiled equally as brightly at his little sister. "Not that I'm mad or anything, but what're you doing here Yumiko?"

Kaii and Kimiko stared at Daitaro for a moment while the siblings spoke. With the exception of his pale blue hair and Kirigakure uniform he looked identical to Konoha's fourth Hokage.

"Well it would seem there are two solutions", said the Jounin dramatically.

"And they are?" said the swordsman sarcastically.

"Blow the hand cuffs off by force or wait 'till tomorrow!"

"We don't have that kind of attention span."

The elder Kawaguchi shrugged, "Then I suggest we start hunting around here for some sort of escape jutsu."

In agreement the four began yanking books off of their dark wooden shelves, skimming through the index, and tossing them on the floor. Although the three Genin were still chained together, within minutes the aisle way was flooded with book titles ranging from '**One Hundred uses for Chakra Paper**' to '**Advanced Assassination Techniques**'.

It was roughly twenty minutes before the Jounin found a reasonable tome.

"According to this the 'Giant wind current jutsu' should do the trick", he muttered.

As Daitaro formed the correct hand signs the swordsman and the genjutsu specialist had a very uneasy feeling about this.

"Wind style: Giant Wind Current jutsu", whispered the guard.

In a moment a strong slicing wind severed the handcuffs between Yumiko and Kimiko before continuing onward into the bookcases on either side of them causing a domino effect and a loud siren like announcement which repeated loud enough for the entire library to hear.

"**HAND LINK SEVERED! ALERT PRESENT ANBU IMMIDIATELY!**"

"Damn it!" yelled the Jounin as he tried to stop a bookcase from crushing some students.

"HEY! WHAT ABOUT US!?!" screamed Kaii as he tried to stop another bookcase.

"Stop those bookcases or the Anbu will be the least of your problems!"

Yumiko who had been cut loose from her squad quickly formed a hand sign. "Water style: Ice blockade!"

In moments, water in the air condensed forming thick sheets ice around many nearby rows of bookshelves propping them up from collapse.

Meanwhile the swordsman and genjutsu specialist attempted to prop up a row of bookcases that were in danger of falling onto a display case of several ancient scrolls.

Librarians screamed, students and library goers panicked, and the Anbu, who had been summoned to the library to recapture the three delinquents, stared in awe at the chaos that had erupted in the domed building and in unison muttered three words: "What…The…Hell."

After regaining their composure, the three Anbu agents strode over to the three Genin and Daitaro who where now sitting underneath a mountain of books.

"We'll have two take you four into custody…again."

Daitaro protested as the elite ninja yanked the four shinobi out the library door.

"HEY WAIT A MINUTE! I HAVEN'T FINISHED MY SHIFT YET AND I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!"

"Are you kidding me?!?" yelled Kaii after him.

"I always wanted to visit a prison!" chirped Yumiko as Kimiko and the Anbu operatives stared at her and involuntarily twitched.

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**{Poor Anbu Black Ops, they must really hate their job…Reviews win you brownie points! (chucks virtual brownies at readers)}**


	6. Judgement

**{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings****first (wait a second, but it's a prequel so disregard that last bit)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page and minor characters in this story. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}**

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**Permafrost**

~ _Chapter six: Judgement _~

The village council stared wide-eyed the three children (and Daitaro) who stood before them completely silent except for the Anbu guards standing behind them desperately trying to control their fits of laughter. A blond Chunin was the first to speak.

"I-it only took them **S-s-seventeen minutes** to ruin P-Plan H?"

"Actually five minutes if you don't count the time it took to get to the library", remarked Yumiko happily.

"_Shut up Yumiko_!" hissed Kai between clenched teeth, "_We're in bad enough trouble as it is_!"

Daitaro began to twiddle his thumbs nervously. "Umm…can I go now?"

The council quickly nodded.

"'Kay then, I'm out of here. Make sure Yumiko's home by six o'clock!"

His younger sister waved after him whilst saying in a cheerful tone, "See you later Dai!"

The five year old's squad stared at her with mouths slightly ajar. Was this kid for real?!?

The eldest of the council let out a sigh as he read over the vote tally the others on the council had finished passing around. It read:

_1. Send them on an A-rank mission to get rid of them for a little while: four votes_

_2. Keep them in the NDF building for a while: four votes_

_3. Send them to Kumogakure early for the Chunin exams: four votes_

_4. All three: two votes_

He took a deep breath before reading the verdict.

"It would seem the council has decided it would be for the best if Cell four to first report to the NDF building for the time being and report back to the here tomorrow morning for further instructions."

The swordsman and genjutsu specialist shook. There were rumors about the NDF building, none of them good. Some said that the large steel building was a government genetic laboratory; others seemed to think that the structure was a remnant of the counter-CORE project. Even Yumiko felt terrified as she remembered the building that haunted her nightmares.

_The sterile white tiled walls blended with the floor, walls, and ceiling. The only distinguishable features were the charcoal black doors. The doors that hid the stainless steel medical instruments that so badly wanted to rip you limb from limb. But the most frightening element of the building was the voices the echoed through its empty halls. The doctors voices, the screaming prisoners voices, and finally her own voice._

The pale azure haired child now began to shake as her mind was flooded of memories and nightmares of the NDF building, causing her teammates to stare at her taken aback. This was the first time the five year old's happy demeanor had weakened and exposed. What was the NDF building? And what was Yumiko Kawaguchi hiding from them?

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**{Cliffyness! Please review to end the suspense sooner!}**


	7. Reflect

**{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to ****Beginnings**** so it won't make much sense unless you've read ****Beginnings**** first (wait a second, but it's a prequel so disregard that last bit)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page, the plot and minor characters in this story. This story takes place two years before ****Beginnings**** (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}**

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**Permafrost**

~ _Chapter seven: Reflect _~

Pure terror gripped Yumiko's five year old mind as the two Anbu operatives led squad four down one of the sterile white tiled hallways of the Ninja Detention Facility. All children had fears, the bluenette knew this, but hers was far more dark and terrorizing than an imaginary creature that stalked you from the shadows or a particularly hard exam.

The Anbu stopped before a cold steel door labeled: '_Room 666: Solitary Confinement'_.

Kaii stared at his five year old teammate.

_Why was she shaking like that? Why were her eyes glassy as if she was seeing something else than the tiled hall, something terrorizing? Yumiko was a prodigy. She was never unsure or scared…So why had her ever present smile cracked? What was she trying to hide from her own teammates?_

But Kaii didn't have time to ponder these questions because it was at this moment that the trio was shoved into the room before them.

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The three Genin surveyed the room around them. The handle-less door blended seamlessly with grey concrete walls that surrounded them on all four sides. There were no windows only a gigantic rusting vent that lay exposed on the ceiling and reeked of a sharp acidic smell.

It was as soon as Yumiko saw the metallic vent it was is if she had shattered into a thousand pieces like glass. Her pupils dilated then glazed over giving the pale azure haired child a haunting look that didn't fit a girl of only five years. The child's breathing and heart rate instantly quickened and her small hands flew to her throat as if she was having trouble taking in air. Her small form seemed to tremor with panic before she collapsed to one of the cement walls.

Although he detested her, Kaii hastily dropped to her teammate's side to check whether or not the five year old was still conscious while Kimiko began forming every genjutsu release hand sign she could remember.

"Hey squirt what's wrong?" the red haired swordsman asked Yumiko, slightly worried.

But his only reply was a barely audible murmur of "…_Please make the gas leave, I can't breathe…_"

"What gas? What are you talking about?!"

The bluenette didn't reply, for at this moment she lost all perception of the cell around her as a nightmarish memory replayed itself before her eyes.

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_Yellow-green gas poured from the vent in the ceiling choking the three year old Yumiko of air. As she struggled to breathe voices came in over the intercom wired near the vent._

"_Experimental introduction of minimal quantity of nerve gas 123.43B to subject successful; proceed to increase intake valves now."_

_The child let out a strangled scream. The young girl was being exposed to small amounts of the military's new biological weapons; enough to observe her torment from the experimental chemical, but not suffocate her. _

_Yumiko cried out for the doctors to stop one final time before she collapsed to the cement floor and her heart rate began to plunge. _

_Seconds later Anbu operatives clad in protective suits and sterile breathing apparatuses entered the testing chamber and raced the tiny subject to the building's emergency room, if she died the whole experiment would be a waste… _

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**{Sorry this chapter came utterly late, but I'm trying to decide whether or not to do a rewrite of this story. (It seems to me that the story line is moving a bit too fast.) But if I do a rewrite the plot will stay essentially the same, just with some alterations to the writing perspective and a few other things. Please review with your opinion on whether or not I should rewrite 'Permafrost'!}**


	8. REWRITE BEING REPOSTED AS NEW STORY

**-NOTICE-**

**The Permafrost rewrite is done and is being re-posted as 'Frozen'! This version of the story has been discontinued! The first Chapter of Frozen is already up! **


	9. UPDATE

**UPDATES on Each Story's Status****- This will be blanket posted on all of the stories mentioned before they are deleted/rewritten/Hiatus'd.**

Right now I'm busy going through all of my stories to see what could/should be continued/rewritten, or scrapped. If there is a story you would like me to continue please review or message me about it. Without feedback I don't know if anyone actually reads or likes my stories.

Nireiki, or as I plan to rename it, Half-Life is staying, but is being rewritten. I feel like I left a lot of missed opertunities to expand Madara and Naruto as well as the story arcs. Before I begin posting the rewrite though, I plan to fully map out several of the plot arcs and make sketchs for the middle and end. (Usually I write by the seat of my pants so this may take a while...)

So far, I plan to put Beginnings on a permanent hiatus. I haven't touched it in years and have found irresolvable problems with it during re-reading. It has a very weak plot (if any), suffers from OC overload, and has an abundence of OOCness in the few canon characters in it. Considering how horrible it is, I'm really surprised that I keep getting favorites, alerts, and reviews for it.

Walls of Ivy is also slated for a permanent hiatus; however, my reasoning behind this is a bit different. While it also suffers from an abundance of OCs, the plot is salvageable and parts of it are being reworked into the Nireiki/Half-Life rewrite. Despite its flaws I really like the wartime setting and want to write more from Taree's perspective.

Rhapsody is also going to reworked into Nireiki/Half-Life. This is mainly due to the murder/mystery and horror elements that I had planned for the its main arc, but never got around to writing. Some problems I had with this were the overly slow plot development and abundance of OCs too early in the story. Taru's character seems kind of bland and could be better expanded in a different context.

Unlike its predecessor Permafrost, I plan to keep Frozen. I do plan to shift from my original plotline though. Since I only ever posted the first chapter of Frozen, it can easily be rewritten without needing to be reposted. I really like how the first chapter came out and don't plan to rewrite it. It may be a while before I start updates on this though, due to the massive restructuring of the plot and Kishimoto unveiling Kabuto's screwed up past.

In other news I've had a oneshot in the works for a few months featuring Tobi and Sakura. It's fairly close to canon and is firmly in the horror category. It will probably be posted within a month or two. It's tentatively titled "Descendant."


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